Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, went to see King Jeroboam II to tell him that Amos was conspiring against him, right in the heartland of the house of Israel. He said that the people of the land should not hear his words. Obviously, this indicated that Amos was prophesizing before 743 BCE, the death of King Jeroboam II.

Jeremiah has a little play by play of how the invading destroyers were coming to Jerusalem. First, they were in the far northern territory of Dan near the Syrian border. Then the second disaster warning comes from Mount Ephraim, just north of Benjamin, in the central area. Finally, they are besieging and surrounding the cities of Judah, the heartland, where Jerusalem is on the border with Benjamin. They were in fields watching as the attack was imminent.